The Mystery of the Mad Science Teacher.

Jeanne Buckley has been an elementary and secondary teacher-librarian for 10 years and previously was a science teacher.  She is a former editor of School Libraries in Canada and a former chair of the steering committee of the Silver Birch Award.  She is currently, the department head of Library at St. Robert CHS in Thornhill, Ontario.

In this third book of the Marty Chan series, Marty and Remi are back solving a mystery. This time the mystery is the disappearance of Trina’s bicycle. Among their numerous suspects is the new science teacher, also known as one of the dreaded “Maniac Twins.” When items start disappearing from students’ lockers, the case becomes more and more complicated.

When Remi confesses a not-so-secret crush on Trina, Marty is hit with a new dilemma — because Marty has a secret crush on Trina too! What’s more, Trina likes him back. Marty doesn’t know how to tell Remi without harming their friendship, but Trina is getting impatient. A further complication is that Marty is framed for several of the thefts. The case concludes in a heart-stopping attack on the three kids by a tank-treaded, mallet-armed, homemade robot, remotely controlled by the desperate thief.

This book is a wacky mystery with plenty of odd analogies. Many twists and turns make it anything but predictable. That said; it is not the best of the three books in the series. First, the amount of page-time devoted to the crushes and boy-girl relationships seems a bit overdone for the audience of the book, since the main characters (and likely the audience) are only nine or 10 years old. Second, some of the references, such as the one to the Schrodinger’s Cat Paradox, may be confusing to the readers. Third, there are several inconsistencies that readers may pick up on, such as playing road hockey during the summer with a heavy puck instead of a ball. Still, the author’s writing style is full of amusing similes and interesting scientific facts that will appeal to fans of Mystery of the Frozen Brains and Mystery of the Graffiti Ghoul, the first two books in this series.

Recommended with reservations.